The philosophy of Prof. Randy Pausch who died of pancreatic cancer in 2008.

This is amazing, he died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, but wrote a book ‘The last lecture” before then, one of the bestsellers in 2007. What a legacy to leave behind…

In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful “guide to a better life” for his wife and children to follow.

May you be blessed by his insight.

POINTS ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

Personality:
1. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don’t have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment
3. Don’t over do; keep your limits
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does
5. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip
6. Dream more while you are awake
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
8. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.
Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more
14. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community:
15. Call your family often
16. Each day give something good to others
17. Forgive everyone for everything
18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
19. Try to make at least three people smile each day
20. What other people think of you is none of your business
21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.
23. GOD heals everything
24. Do the right things
25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
27. The best is yet to come
28. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful
29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
30. If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.

While you practice all of the above, share this knowledge with the people you love, people you school with,
people you play with, people you work with and people you live with.
Not only will it enrich YOUR life, but also that of those around you.

Today is exactly ten days since I returned from the Foundations/TAPOC Conference #2 in Singapore. During the Conference #2 weekend, as a dad, I was amazed at how much I was missing my wife and children. The part that intrigues me is that I travel a lot as my job takes me away from home much of the time, and normally it takes me four to five days before I start missing my family. However, now, it takes about four or five hours only to trigger emotions (of being with them) and what my kids have already taught me – being in the present, loving unconditionally and best of all they are my flexibility ‘wibble-wabble gurus’.

I remember clearly how my daughter, Sanjnah (she is turning four in July 2010) used to invite me to dance and I used to resist her invitation. Now, I am an ever willing partner in flexibility. My son, Keshava, who turned two in January 2010, is all play. He has taught me how learning can be playful, and how play can be learning. I relate these experiences in the context of the Newfield journey.

“There are infinite lessons that I am learning from my kids every day. There is no right time or place for showing love, care and just having fun. All the lessons I learn from my children just spring to mind when I am off-center. As Julio says, “It only gets better”.

I remember watching Sanjnah and Keshava just running around in circles in the garden chasing each other. In the past, I used just sit watch them in awe and wonder. But now I join in the excitement of just playing, dancing, hopping, skipping and running with them without any purpose or meaning. Just to play for the sake of playing! My children coach me on being present and being flexible. I am a child again!

At night, just before going to bed, Sanjnah now requests that she lays on my laps and that I sing or read to her. I am enjoying every moment of granting her request. I experience joy and a rewarding feeling daily. I tell my wife, how grateful I am as both my children enrich me.

In the past I used to judge my performance as a dad against “being the perfect dad” and that I will never match up to becoming one. Then it hit me, that my assessments of perfection were rooted in my emotions and moods when I was a little boy, having a difficult childhood with my dad.

For me, on a daily basis, I observe my kids play as a valuable lesson and unforgettable “coaching moment with my children”. When I see the Observer that I am now, freedom is just within my reach. Choices are there for me to choose from. My kids, like all children, are 100% in the present, in the NOW, constantly exploding in their experiences. I celebrated father’s day this time around just being in reflection on how the bond between my father and I have created a gift of me as a father. This is the gift that I now bring with me in my coaching work.

I say from experience that my children are my coaches. They create my results. I find meaning in this coaching journey that I am going through now. My children bring tremendous learning for me as I carry that experience to my work environment. My kids are a mirror of me and a reflection of how I am learning and growing in their space.

For me as a trainee coach, the gift of fatherhood means a seamless supply of stories, abundance of excitement, awe and wonder that I can bring into coaching. Children are able to find wonder in the simplest of things — an earthworm in the garden, an unusual bug on the sidewalk, an airplane in the sky and throwing pebbles into a puddle. As I reflect on the many ways of how fathers and kids learn from each other and grow in each others space, I leave you with a question to ponder: How have your children enriched your coaching? …. I am off to play with my children 🙂

A friend of mine send this to me, and I am sure you have seen this many times.
Here is an example of an amazing illusion!!!

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, the dots will remain only one color, pink.

However if you stare at the black ‘+ ‘ in the center, the moving dot turns to green. Now, concentrate on the black ‘ + ‘ in the center of the picture. After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see only a single green dot rotating.

It’s amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don’t disappear.

Isn’t it true that this should be proof enough, in life, we don’t always see what we think we see…